Convertible manure-spreader bottom



E. C. SMITH I CONVERTIBLE MANURE SPREADER BOTTOM Dec, 1e, 1924. www@ Filed March 26. 1920 Patented lilec. l, 192.4.

ERNEST C. SlMITH, OF CHCAGQ, LLlNlS, ASSGNOE TO INTERNATXGITAL HARVESTER COIJIPANY, A CORPOEATON OF NEVI JERSEY.

CONVERBLE ll/LANURE-SPBEADER BOTTOM.

Application filed March 26, 1920.

To @ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST C. SMITH, a citizen ot the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of lilinois, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Convertible Manure- Spreader Bottoms, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specilication.

This invention relates to manure spreaders, and its object is to provide a wagon box or body for spreaders so constructed as to permit the machine to be readily converted 'trom the solid or closed bottom type, using a conveyor comprising chains carrying spaced cross-bars, to the open bottom type using a conveyor in the form of a slatted apron, or vice versa.

I; accomplish this by constructing the machine with a box or body having a wide central panel, which is attached to the frame by easily removable connections, and mounting this panel between permanent narrow side panels or sections carrying metal tracks on which either the conveyor or apron travel, the conveyor and apron being interchangeable.

TWith this and other objects in view, the invention consists of the organization and details of construction, or their equivalents, hereinafter described and defined in the claim.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. l is a plan view of a spreader with the central panel in place, and showing a port-ion ot the conveyor;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a spreader with the panel removed, and showing a portion of the slatted apron;

Fig. 3 is a transverse section through the middle oi Fig. l; and

Fig. yl is a transverse section through the middle ot Fig. 2, both looking in the direction oit the arrows.

The invention is illustrated in connection with a manure spreader including the front tongue Vtruck 5 and rear wheeled axle 6, with which is associated the driving mechanism YAfor the apron and beater in the usual man4 ner.

The box or body, including the novel structure or' my invention, comprises the Serial No. 3%,076

sides 7 and sloping front end 8, the rear end being closed by the usual beater 9. This box rests on the traine ot' the machine, which is preferably constructed ot' angle iron, and includes the side members l0 (Figs. 3 and 4:) and spaced cross members ll.

Beneath the body at intervals transverse guiding and supporting elements 12 are suspended by vertical straps i3 from the side members oit the trarne, and these transverse elements cai-rj,Y longitudinal straps shown in cross section at la (Figs. 3 and 4), on which the lower run ot the conveyor or apron, as the case may be, travels.

The bottom ot the box or body is composed or' narrow side panels or sections l5, permanently secured to the longitudinal frame bars 10, in contact with the sides 7, and carrying the longitudinally extending track 16. Between these narrow sections a single wide panel i7, which may be formed oi several boards connected by cleats 1in (Fig. el), is placed and detachably secured, as by screws or bolts at i9, to the cross members 'il of the traine. rlhe tracks 1G serve to support the chains 2O of the traveling element that feeds the material to the rear oi' the body, and this element may be either the conveyor having the spaced cross bars 2l, as seen in Fig. l, or the apron having the closely placed slats 22 (Fig. 2), both the conveyor and apron being provided with chains having detachable links to permit removal. or" one and substitution ot the other.

lt follows from the construction above described that a spreader embodying it can be readily adjusted to operate efficiently on the dilerent kinds et manure ordinarily used, whether coarse, line, wet or dry. The change i'rom the solid bottoni with conveyor to the open bottom with slatted apron, as in Figs. l and 2 respectively, l'ieing easily accomplished by removal oi: the conveyor and detachable central panel, and substitution of the slatted apron, or the reverse. Both types or machines are thus combined in one.

`What I claim as my invention is:

ln a manure spreader, a supporting traine including side members and spaced transverse members, a body supported on said 'frame and including side walls having narupper run traveling above and out of contact With the bottom panel and having chains at its edges resting on said tracks and 10 supporting the conveyor independently of the bottom panel.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ERNEST C. SMITH. 

